The pragmatics of political oratory and decision making in Greek Antiquity

欧洲的公共演讲实践起源于希腊和罗马古代。在希腊城市和罗马帝国，政治决策基本上与审议辩论有关，即在不同的政治机构面前发言。自公元前5世纪以来，修辞就是统治阶级普通教育的一部分，在整个古代的政治交流中发挥着核心作用，而且通过对古代教育的持续接受，在后来的所有欧洲文化时代也是如此。我们的研究将集中在演讲实践和政治决策之间的联系，以及演讲者和他们的听众在表演、空间和声学条件下的互动。为此，我们将考察希腊文化中心地区的不同类型的装配式建筑--从最早的装配式建筑到帝国宫殿。我们将讨论公共辩论场所的建筑背景和声学方面，以及演讲者和他们的礼堂。这些被概念化为特定社会结构的一部分和表达，在这种社会结构中，各自的作用由对社会和法律地位、习惯和教育的不同需求和期望确定。在研究相关文献和金石学资料的基础上，通过对装配式建筑(剧场、广场、教堂、宫殿)建筑的分析，将重建希腊文化中典型演讲活动的实践过程，并使用适当的例子进行声学和视觉模拟。这是批判性地检验关于演讲的实际过程以及关于不同公共场所演讲者和观众席之间的交流和互动的共同假设的前提。此外，研究演讲事件的语用学--公开演讲的实践过程，以及演讲的社会和政治、结构条件和发声先决条件--开辟了一种新的方法，解决迄今鲜有研究的问题，例如古代集会的可及性和工作方式以及政治参与的选择和限制。

The European practice of public speaking has its origins in Greek and Roman antiquity. In Greek cities and in the Roman Empire, political decision-making was essentially linked to deliberative debate, i.e. speaking before different political bodies. Since the 5th century B.C., rhetoric was part of the general education of the ruling classes and played a central role in political communication throughout antiquity, but also in all subsequent epochs of European culture through the persistent reception of ancient education. Our research will focus on the connection between oratorical practice and political decision-making and the interaction between speakers and their audiences in its performative, spatial and acoustic conditions. To this end, we will examine different types of assembly buildings from the central areas of Greek culture – from the earliest assembly buildings to Imperial odeia. We will discuss places of public debate in their architectural context and their acoustic dimension as well as speakers and their auditoria. These are conceptualized as part and expression of a specific social configuration, in which the respective roles were determined by various demands and expectations of social and legal status, habitus and education. Based on the study of relevant literary and epigraphic sources as well as the analysis of the architecture of assembly buildings (theaters, agorai, ekklesiasteria, bouleuteria), the practical process of typical oratorical activities in Greek culture will be reconstructed and, using suitable examples, simulated acoustically and visually. This is a precondition to critically examine common assumptions about the practical process of oratorical performance and about the communication and interaction between speaker and auditorium at various public spaces. Furthermore, examining the pragmatics of oratorical events – the practical course of public speaking, but also the social and political, constructional and thus also acoustic conditions and vocal prerequisites of speech – opens up a new approach to hitherto little studied questions such as the accessibility and mode of working of ancient assemblies and the options and limits of political participation.